"Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Xerox Corp blamed each other on Monday after Louisiana food stamp recipients stripped bare the shelves of some Walmart stores when a computer glitch left their debit cards with no limits."

Had this happen about 3 years ago. Honest. I immediately notified the Credit Union because I knew eventually their accounting would catch it. I would like to have kept it but the poor sucker who was missing the cash had to be frantic and that was an even bigger consideration. (it was a teller error......he/she entered the wrong account number when the person made the deposit)

I did find a wallet (with over $200 in cash in it) in the seat of a roller coaster at Six Flags Great America outside Chicago like 14 years ago. Turned it in, all the cash included, to the lost & found people.

I thought about keeping the cash, but I didn't do it. I think I have the right to say that I would not have taken advantage of this had it happened to me based on my own actual past actions in a similar scenario.

RolandDeschain wrote:I did find a wallet (with over $200 in cash in it) in the seat of a roller coaster at Six Flags Great America outside Chicago like 14 years ago. Turned it in, all the cash included, to the lost & found people.

I thought about keeping the cash, but I didn't do it. I think I have the right to say that I would not have taken advantage of this had it happened to me based on my own actual past actions in a similar scenario.

Smh I would've taken the money and not turned in the wallet, am I a bad person? Or just opportunistic?

I'd notify the bank. This has happened to me before at a time when I wasn't rolling in cash but I know this isn't Monopoly and it was the right thing to do. Have done this with wallets found with cash, etc.

It isn't a right wing/left wing issue. It is doing what you think is the right thing to do. But it is a good flash point for judging others so I grant you that.

I also hold open doors for women I don't know entering a building, though I no longer am so quick to give them my seat on a crowded train (I suck, yes I do!)

drdiags wrote:I'd notify the bank. This has happened to me before at a time when I wasn't rolling in cash but I know this isn't Monopoly and it was the right thing to do. Have done this with wallets found with cash, etc.

It isn't a right wing/left wing issue. It is doing what you think is the right thing to do. But it is a good flash point for judging others so I grant you that.

I also hold open doors for women I don't know entering a building, though I no longer am so quick to give them my seat on a crowded train (I suck, yes I do!)

Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. These people are lacking.

However, judgment is hard to pass when low income individuals realized they received a brief windfall of free food that a store is allowing them to capitalize on. That's not quite the same as comparing a financially sound individual not reporting extra unearned income appearing in a bank account.

12evanf wrote:Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. These people are lacking.

However, judgment is hard to pass when low income individuals realized they received a brief windfall of free food that a store is allowing them to capitalize on. That's not quite the same as comparing a financially sound individual not reporting extra unearned income appearing in a bank account.

So at what income level is it acceptable to keep/take something that is not yours, particularly when you know it was a mix up?

12evanf wrote:Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. These people are lacking.

However, judgment is hard to pass when low income individuals realized they received a brief windfall of free food that a store is allowing them to capitalize on. That's not quite the same as comparing a financially sound individual not reporting extra unearned income appearing in a bank account.

So at what income level is it acceptable to keep/take something that is not yours, particularly when you know it was a mix up?

I said it is not right. Clearly. I also said it is hard for me to pass judgment on others in a different situation in life than my own.

12evanf wrote:Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. These people are lacking.

However, judgment is hard to pass when low income individuals realized they received a brief windfall of free food that a store is allowing them to capitalize on. That's not quite the same as comparing a financially sound individual not reporting extra unearned income appearing in a bank account.

So at what income level is it acceptable to keep/take something that is not yours, particularly when you know it was a mix up?

I said it is not right. Clearly. I also said it is hard for me to pass judgment on others in a different situation in life than my own.

Your comparison; low-income/financially sound, not mine. I think they are all wrong regardless of their situation in life.

And the description really isn't what happened. No one received "brief windfall of free food that a store is allowing them to capitalize on". Some discovered that their debit cards suddenly had no limit. They abused that situation knowing that it wasn't right.

Nice edit, BTW.

Last edited by DTexHawk on Tue Oct 15, 2013 1:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I have quite a few people on this board who think I'm a deplorable human because I type and say off-color jokes. That's their right, but I don't think jokes, even off color, are an indicator of who you are as a human. (I have to wonder if they hate Kevin Bacon because he played a "pedophile" in a movie? If they can separate expression from actions).

For this scenario, I would wait the 90 days. Then I would 100% donate to something important (IMO). From my perspective, taking the money is a "-1", but donating is a "+1", so my karma is in balance. Whatever anyone else does is their issue.

IMO if you find a person's money (find a wallet, see them drop cash, etc) you should at least attempt to get it back to them because it's the right thing to do.

If a bank or a company (especially a big bank or an insurance company or something like that) accidentally gives you money you weren't supposed to get you should probably not spend it because they're likely going to realize their error at some point and they're getting their money back. But I have absolutely no moral problem with keeping Bank of America or State Farm's money should they accidentally give it to me. It's just likely they're going to figure it out and get it back.

My dad was a VP for a fairly big grocery store chain. When I was a teen, I didn't do the whole "find a guy" to get my booze thing, I would steal it. But, I only stole from the stores my father ran. In some weird way that meant my family was personally incurring the loss in inventory. Also, it had to be a big chain. Shady and slimy thinking, but it worked for me.

I met my wife at a party that way; asked for a ride to a grocery store, told her to keep the car running, I ran in and ran out with a case under each arm.

Well, since I can't say "it's the right thing to do" without looking bad on Pehawks.net, I'll add that it's also a smart CYA move. These days, it feels like keeping the cash would just get you sued or indebted or outed on MSN.com or something.

Well, since I can't say "it's the right thing to do" without looking bad on Pehawks.net, I'll add that it's also a smart CYA move. These days, it feels like keeping the cash would just get you sued or indebted or outed on MSN.com or something.

I don't understand the snarkiness, here? Unless I misread it? And, actually, I said I wouldn't judge anyone for whatever action they chose. I really only care about my ledger.

12evanf wrote:Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. These people are lacking.

However, judgment is hard to pass when low income individuals realized they received a brief windfall of free food that a store is allowing them to capitalize on. That's not quite the same as comparing a financially sound individual not reporting extra unearned income appearing in a bank account.

So at what income level is it acceptable to keep/take something that is not yours, particularly when you know it was a mix up?

I said it is not right. Clearly. I also said it is hard for me to pass judgment on others in a different situation in life than my own.

Your comparison; low-income/financially sound, not mine. I think they are all wrong regardless of their situation in life.

And the description really isn't what happened. No one received "brief windfall of free food that a store is allowing them to capitalize on". Some discovered that their debit cards suddenly had no limit. They abused that situation knowing that it wasn't right.

Nice edit, BTW.

I've worked a dirty, crappy job to help support my working wife and our baby but we still depended on WIC to help us out until we found better jobs. I take pride in hers and my own integrity but I can definitely understand taking advantage of free food from an EBT card due to a system error. Back in that time when food was low I would have been tempted and could not promise I would not have acted the same.

Also, I edited it because I immediately realized this wasn't the PWR. No reason to turn the heat up in here.

Anyone that would actually keep it and go on a blind spending spree is an idiot. Period. You WILL eventually be found through bank records and be prosecuted with felony theft in almost every case. One of my major goals in life is to stay out of prison. #2. Who cares? Avoiding loser prison shit precludes everything else. Oh, why isn't Bill here for Christmas? Oh, Bill's in prison for felony theft from a bank. He'll be out in 15 to 20. How moronic would you be to take any possible chance of that happening?

No thanks. I would immediately report it as an error and get it the F out of my account. Then work, wife and life go on as usual.

Not to mention I've lost my wallet twice in my life, and both times it was returned to me, cash intact. I was so grateful for that, that I swore I would never screw over my Karma by keeping someone else's money. Now, if it was a sack on the side of the road with no identifying marks on it, no, I wouldn't turn that in. That would be mine.

Last edited by BlueThunder on Tue Oct 15, 2013 5:55 pm, edited 3 times in total.

"Marshawn Lynch does not run. He Rumbles. And he shook the ground with a perfect '10' on the Beast-quake Scale"NFL Films on 24 yard TD run in NFCCG vs Packers

RolandDeschain wrote:I did find a wallet (with over $200 in cash in it) in the seat of a roller coaster at Six Flags Great America outside Chicago like 14 years ago. Turned it in, all the cash included, to the lost & found people.

I thought about keeping the cash, but I didn't do it. I think I have the right to say that I would not have taken advantage of this had it happened to me based on my own actual past actions in a similar scenario.

It would depend on several factors for me. How much are we talking? A significant amount? Just a few bucks? Could be a credit I forgot was coming or a Secret Santa relative with access to your bank account number or a host of other things I can't even think of. Depending on the amount, I would likely sit on it until I could figure out where it came from and if it really was an error. Now, if I checked my bank account one day and it had a hell of a lot more zeros then it does now or ever will, yeah...I notify the bank immediately.

SacHawk2.0 wrote:If you found a bank bag on the side of the road with ten grand in it, cash, and no other identifiers, would you give it to the police?

An anonymous bag of cash on the side of the road is quite different from a wallet you know was lost on the grounds of an amusement park. I'd keep the bag of cash.

Scottemojo wrote:

RolandDeschain wrote:I did find a wallet (with over $200 in cash in it) in the seat of a roller coaster at Six Flags Great America outside Chicago like 14 years ago. Turned it in, all the cash included, to the lost & found people.

I thought about keeping the cash, but I didn't do it. I think I have the right to say that I would not have taken advantage of this had it happened to me based on my own actual past actions in a similar scenario.

And then you illegally downloaded some shit for free?

I didn't really pirate in the late 90s. A tiny bit, but things were different back then in a variety of ways. You know, I don't pirate music anymore. I haven't in at least two years; probably three. I can sample anything on YouTube, and I buy what I like on Google Play. I do still pirate movies and TV shows, but I buy some of what I like. Probably 30% for TV, and 50% for movies. Funny story relating to why I still pirate a lot of that stuff from just this past weekend.

I don't have a DVR box through Comcast for TV. I have a server setup that I host voice chat on, and it has an InfiniTV 4 card in it. This allows me to get what's called an M-card from Comcast that lets me run coax straight from the wall into the back of my computer. I use Windows Media Center to watch and record TV, and I have all the functions of the DVR box, but with unlimited storage and more features, and the card has four tuners, so I can watch one channel and record three others simultaneously, for instance.

Now, I have a Blu-ray burner in my computer and that's what I use to watch Blu-ray movies and shows with. A friend came over Saturday morning, we went mini golfing, then picked up steaks to throw on the grill and we watched the entire season of Firefly straight through on Blu-ray. I had never seen it, but had always heard good things, and the friend in question was pushing me to watch it. As soon as I put in the first Blu-ray disc, what does the Blu-ray software do? It refuses to play, saying the HDCP check failed. It failed because my server has three displays hooked up to it; the HDTV in the living room through an HDMI cable, the primary monitor through a DVI cable, and a secondary monitor through a VGA cable. HDCP (which is DRM BS) won't display content if there is an analog display hooked up that isn't DVI, because you can't block a device from recording what passes through an analog device or display.

So, I have to unplug the secondary monitor, and it still won't play. I have to close the Blu-ray software completely and open it up again, at which point it plays. We get through the first four or so episodes, and put in the next disc, at which point the HDCP check fails AGAIN, despite the freaking VGA cable being unplugged. This time, simply double-clicking the title bar to put it in windowed mode, then maximizing it back into full screen mode fixes it. Now, is this a horrific inconvenience? A really time-consuming burden? No. It's a quick fix. However, it's still a damned nuisance. This kind of DRM is just stupid, because it's trying to fix a problem that can't be fixed. There is no way to stop determined people from ripping video content from a disc. You can buy an HDCP stripper for under $100 to get around it, but there are other ways, too. All it takes is one person willing to do the work and they can make tons of movies and shows available on the Internet for the world to download.

Until I can buy all the shows and movies I want in DRM-free formats and have them kept on multiple devices I own, I will continue to pirate movies and TV shows. The same friend I just watched Firefly with wants to watch Farscape with me, too. He owns all the seasons on Blu-ray, but you know what I'm doing? Pirating all of it because it's easier and more convenient to watch that way, and Hollywood will count that as a lost sale to convince people like you to support the next iteration of DRM to try and prevent piracy with when all they have to do is get rid of DRM altogether and let people buy their movies and TV shows in whatever format they want, without restriction. Look at how removing DRM from music turned out as all the proof you need in case you disagree with me.

You and DTex think I just lie and use this kind of thing as an excuse to pirate stuff so I don't have to pay for it, but that is crap, and frankly I'm a little offended by it. My Steam catalog alone is enough to prove that I buy stuff I like, and a big part of the reason why I've purchased TONS of games on Steam is that they have made it convenient to do so, and most games on there are pretty DRM-free, or at least there is absolutely no inconvenience to what is there.

Hell, I paid for two World of Warcraft accounts for myself for years because I liked the convenience of running two clients simultaneously.

When I can buy the movies and shows I want in top-notch quality with no DRM or restrictions, including being able to keep offline copies on multiple devices, I'll start buying all of it instead of only some of it.

You and DTex can take your high misinformed moral high ground and shove it.

SacHawk2.0 wrote:If you found a bank bag on the side of the road with ten grand in it, cash, and no other identifiers, would you give it to the police?

An anonymous bag of cash on the side of the road is quite different from a wallet you know was lost on the grounds of an amusement park. I'd keep the bag of cash.

Scottemojo wrote:

RolandDeschain wrote:I did find a wallet (with over $200 in cash in it) in the seat of a roller coaster at Six Flags Great America outside Chicago like 14 years ago. Turned it in, all the cash included, to the lost & found people.

I thought about keeping the cash, but I didn't do it. I think I have the right to say that I would not have taken advantage of this had it happened to me based on my own actual past actions in a similar scenario.

And then you illegally downloaded some shit for free?

I didn't really pirate in the late 90s. A tiny bit, but things were different back then in a variety of ways. You know, I don't pirate music anymore. I haven't in at least two years; probably three. I can sample anything on YouTube, and I buy what I like on Google Play. I do still pirate movies and TV shows, but I buy some of what I like. Probably 30% for TV, and 50% for movies. Funny story relating to why I still pirate a lot of that stuff from just this past weekend.

I don't have a DVR box through Comcast for TV. I have a server setup that I host voice chat on, and it has an InfiniTV 4 card in it. This allows me to get what's called an M-card from Comcast that lets me run coax straight from the wall into the back of my computer. I use Windows Media Center to watch and record TV, and I have all the functions of the DVR box, but with unlimited storage and more features, and the card has four tuners, so I can watch one channel and record three others simultaneously, for instance.

Now, I have a Blu-ray burner in my computer and that's what I use to watch Blu-ray movies and shows with. A friend came over Saturday morning, we went mini golfing, then picked up steaks to throw on the grill and we watched the entire season of Firefly straight through on Blu-ray. I had never seen it, but had always heard good things, and the friend in question was pushing me to watch it. As soon as I put in the first Blu-ray disc, what does the Blu-ray software do? It refuses to play, saying the HDCP check failed. It failed because my server has three displays hooked up to it; the HDTV in the living room through an HDMI cable, the primary monitor through a DVI cable, and a secondary monitor through a VGA cable. HDCP (which is DRM BS) won't display content if there is an analog display hooked up that isn't DVI, because you can't block a device from recording what passes through an analog device or display.

So, I have to unplug the secondary monitor, and it still won't play. I have to close the Blu-ray software completely and open it up again, at which point it plays. We get through the first four or so episodes, and put in the next disc, at which point the HDCP check fails AGAIN, despite the freaking VGA cable being unplugged. This time, simply double-clicking the title bar to put it in windowed mode, then maximizing it back into full screen mode fixes it. Now, is this a horrific inconvenience? A really time-consuming burden? No. It's a quick fix. However, it's still a damned nuisance. This kind of DRM is just stupid, because it's trying to fix a problem that can't be fixed. There is no way to stop determined people from ripping video content from a disc. You can buy an HDCP stripper for under $100 to get around it, but there are other ways, too. All it takes is one person willing to do the work and they can make tons of movies and shows available on the Internet for the world to download.

Until I can buy all the shows and movies I want in DRM-free formats and have them kept on multiple devices I own, I will continue to pirate movies and TV shows. The same friend I just watched Firefly with wants to watch Farscape with me, too. He owns all the seasons on Blu-ray, but you know what I'm doing? Pirating all of it because it's easier and more convenient to watch that way, and Hollywood will count that as a lost sale to convince people like you to support the next iteration of DRM to try and prevent piracy with when all they have to do is get rid of DRM altogether and let people buy their movies and TV shows in whatever format they want, without restriction. Look at how removing DRM from music turned out as all the proof you need in case you disagree with me.

You and DTex think I just lie and use this kind of thing as an excuse to pirate stuff so I don't have to pay for it, but that is crap, and frankly I'm a little offended by it. My Steam catalog alone is enough to prove that I buy stuff I like, and a big part of the reason why I've purchased TONS of games on Steam is that they have made it convenient to do so, and most games on there are pretty DRM-free, or at least there is absolutely no inconvenience to what is there.

Hell, I paid for two World of Warcraft accounts for myself for years because I liked the convenience of running two clients simultaneously.

When I can buy the movies and shows I want in top-notch quality with no DRM or restrictions, including being able to keep offline copies on multiple devices, I'll start buying all of it instead of only some of it.

You and DTex can take your high misinformed moral high ground and shove it.

Just watch Farscape on Netflix, they have Firefly and many other shows as well. This is much easier than pirating IMO.

SalishHawkFan wrote:My name is Russell Wilson. You intercepted 4 of my passes. Prepare to die.

OkieHawk wrote:Just watch Farscape on Netflix, they have Firefly and many other shows as well. This is much easier than pirating IMO.

I can literally start the downloads in like 60 seconds. Netflix is hardly much faster. (I do love my Netflix, and I've been a subscriber for years, though.) I like to watch true HD, when I can, however. Netflix is close, but you can definitely see the difference between Netflix and a quality Blu-ray rip.

You know the main reason I avoid Netflix when I can, though? No 5.1 surround sound through the web browser. You're stuck with stereo sound on Netflix if you don't have a device with a Netflix app that supports 5.1 audio through the app, like a PS3.

RolandDeschain wrote: There is no way to stop determined people from ripping video content from a disc. You can buy an HDCP stripper for under $100 to get around it, but there are other ways, too. All it takes is one person willing to do the work and they can make tons of movies and shows available on the Internet for the world to download.

There is no way to stop determined people from robbing banks, stealing entire ATM's, breaking into houses, stealing cars, .......................

OkieHawk wrote:Just watch Farscape on Netflix, they have Firefly and many other shows as well. This is much easier than pirating IMO.

I can literally start the downloads in like 60 seconds. Netflix is hardly much faster. (I do love my Netflix, and I've been a subscriber for years, though.) I like to watch true HD, when I can, however. Netflix is close, but you can definitely see the difference between Netflix and a quality Blu-ray rip.

You know the main reason I avoid Netflix when I can, though? No 5.1 surround sound through the web browser. You're stuck with stereo sound on Netflix if you don't have a device with a Netflix app that supports 5.1 audio through the app, like a PS3.

Which is why I own a PS3. Well, that and the games. Some shows aren't worth it in HD anyway IMO, but to each their own in that regard.

SalishHawkFan wrote:My name is Russell Wilson. You intercepted 4 of my passes. Prepare to die.

There are two reasons I'm probably buying a PS4. (I have never purchased an Xbox or a Playstation, any of the generations. I'm a PC gamer.) Netflix and Madden. It's kind of sad that those are reasons I need to buy a $400 console for, but it is what it is. Also, I know to anyone reading this that I can get like an $80 Blu-ray player with a Netflix app on it that supports 5.1 audio, but since I can't really avoid playing Madden any longer, (I stopped buying it when they stopped making it for PC, and coincidentally, the last PC version was the one that featured Shaun Alexander on the cover) there's no reason to buy a Blu-ray player AND a PS4 when the only reason I want the Blu-ray player is for 5.1 Netflix audio.

DTexHawk wrote:There is no way to stop determined people from robbing banks, stealing entire ATM's, breaking into houses, stealing cars, .......................

I do admit to one time back in the 80s seeing a wallet laying in the middle of a street, turning around and driving back to pick it whereupon I saw there was like $70 in it. I kept the cash but left the credit cards in it and anonymously mailed it back to the owner using his drivers license address. I justified it by telling myself it was my reward for returning his cards, licenses etc. and the time I spent packaging it up and going to post office to mail it to him. Not honest and I wouldn't do it now......or at least I'd like to think I wouldn't.

I'm pretty disappointed in the results of this poll, though it doesn't surprise me. The lack of empathy in the general population keeps going down at alarming levels. Each new generation keeps downgrading, though that's not that surprising seeing as my own drug-addled generation bred them. There actually used to be a time, not that long ago where people would leave their doors unlocked and not think a thing about it. Now the thought of stealing other peoples money is, pfffft, no biggie. Screw them. I don't care about the pain they'll feel when they realize that now they can't pay for this or that 'cause some piece of shit humanoid doesn't care about some other person's problems. Nobody ever seems to put themselves in some other persons shoes anymore. They just don't care. Comeuppance is a bitch, and I look forward to it for you many pieces of shit in the human race. It'll happen eventually to you pieces of crap, then you'll know how it feels, you self-centered a-holes. I'm only talking to you lame-ass quasi-humans that this applies to obviously, not the good people here, of all ages, that I know still exist.

Last edited by BlueThunder on Wed Oct 16, 2013 5:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"Marshawn Lynch does not run. He Rumbles. And he shook the ground with a perfect '10' on the Beast-quake Scale"NFL Films on 24 yard TD run in NFCCG vs Packers

Oh, c'mon Roland. Just a simple look over the last 40 years should easily support my theory. My parents from the 40's/50's said the same thing... and they were right. Each generation tries to out-shock the previous generation. And they always succeed. What is the end game here if this trend continues? Oh, you'll see it buddy... give it 20 years. Thankfully, I'm gonna die soon enough... But you'll have to witness it as an old guy. It's gonna really suck by the time you're yelling at kids to get off your lawn! And believe me, I used to be cool and thought I'd never say shit like this!

Last edited by BlueThunder on Wed Oct 16, 2013 5:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"Marshawn Lynch does not run. He Rumbles. And he shook the ground with a perfect '10' on the Beast-quake Scale"NFL Films on 24 yard TD run in NFCCG vs Packers

What's it called when people think things are always getting worse with each new generation, and that people were morally superior back in the day? There's a phrase for this fallacy, but I can't think of it at the moment. In any case, look at crime stats for violent crimes and the like, and you'll quickly see you're wrong about people getting worse. The impression that there's more crime and more murder is because of increased air play on TV and in the general media about it.

RolandDeschain wrote:What's it called when people think things are always getting worse with each new generation, and that people were morally superior back in the day? There's a phrase for this fallacy, but I can't think of it at the moment. In any case, look at crime stats for violent crimes and the like, and you'll quickly see you're wrong about people getting worse. The impression that there's more crime and more murder is because of increased air play on TV and in the general media about it.

As Grandpa Simpson once said..."Ohhhh.... YOU'LL see" LMAO! And you will. God I wish we could set a date to where I could say "Told ya so". But I'll probably be dead by then... damnit! I hate missing a good "Told you so!". grrrr...

"Marshawn Lynch does not run. He Rumbles. And he shook the ground with a perfect '10' on the Beast-quake Scale"NFL Films on 24 yard TD run in NFCCG vs Packers